Engineering Notebook New Resources!



FIRST Tech Challengecelebrates the engineering process with the Engineering Notebook. Not only is it a way for teams to track the design, build, and iteration of their robot, but it can also help to keep the team structured and organized, as well as provide a record of their overall growth throughout the season.

Engineering Notebooks help Judges to learn more about the team and their robot and are required to be considered for FIRST Tech Challenge Awards. There are additional requirements for the Engineering Notebook to be considered for some of the awards, such as including a Business/Strategic Plan for the Connect Award.

To help your team master the Engineering Notebook, we have three new resources for you this year, in addition to the information provided in the Mentor Manual. All of these resources can be found on the FTC Team Resources webpage under the new Engineering Notebook section.

Engineering Notebooks Guidelines:this document outlines the requirements for the Engineering Notebook, provides tips and suggestions from Judges and award-winning teams, and also includes information on writing a Business/Strategic Plan.

Engineering Notebook Self-Assessment: as part of our ongoing mission to encourage self-reflection as part of the team experience, we have created a self-assessment to help you review and reflect on your Engineering Notebook and ways that
you might change it up. We are sharing this document as a PDF and a Word file so that Teacher Mentors can download and modify the document for use in their classes.

Example Engineering Notebooks:four FIRST Tech Challenge teams have shared their entire Engineering Notebook with the community for you to browse and explore for ideas and tips. Look these over before you start your season to see what you like and want to include in your Notebook. Or refer to them when you are trying o figure out how to craft a specific section for your Notebook. Or, before competition, you might look through to get tips on how to improve your Notebook to leave a stronger impression.

No matter what your approach to the Engineering Notebook, we hope these resources give you lots of support and inspiration. Remember that the most important thing is that you DOCUMENT EVERYTHING!

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